City leaders and bicyclists lauded the change, saying it creates a safe cycling pathway between Uptown neighborhoods and downtown San Diego, and will encourage more people to bike to work.

Others said they are wary of handing over roadways to cyclists. Cheryl Cunha, who lives in downtown’s Marina district and recently drove the road that lost a lane to bicycles said she doesn’t want to see the change replicated where she lives.

“Since the majority of taxpayers drive and wouldn’t use the lane, it doesn’t make sense to me,” said Cunha, a retired psychologist. “I would feel like something was being taken away from me and given to a very small segment of the population. … I don’t think it meets the fairness test.”

City officials said they are considering swapping out an auto lane for a bike lane on several other corridors across the city.

They said they are eyeing stretches, based on the urging of residents in those neighborhoods, only where there’s enough auto lanes that taking one away would not create traffic congestion.

Sandrock between Aero and Gramercy

Fairmount between Home and Olive

Maddison between Texas and Park

They said additional studies and community outreach would be conducted before any future lanes are converted for bicycles.

Officials emphasized that the avenues in Bankers Hill had “extra (auto lane) capacity” and hadn’t experienced gridlock since the change was made.

Yes
77% (336)

No
23% (103)

439 total votes.

“This (stretch in Bankers Hill) is not a heavily congested area. By removing the lane, you still have more than adequate (motor) vehicle access through the corridor,” said City Council President Todd Gloria, who said he drives those avenues daily to reach downtown and hasn’t noticed any added congestion.

The majority of complaints about the project have come from those who say it doesn’t go far enough, Gloria and other city officials said. A plan still in the works and led by the San Diego Association of Governments calls for extending bike lanes north into Hillcrest and eventually into North Park. That project would not remove auto lanes but could reduce parking in the area, officials said.

The Bankers Hill lane conversion is part of San Diego’s soon-to-be-completed downtown bike loop, a seven-mile route guided by bicycle markers painted on downtown streets. Officials plan to unveil the loop early next week. It’s meant to complement an upcoming bike sharing program and is part of the growing momentum for cycling in San Diego.

The seven-mile loop cost $70,000 for labor and materials, with the Bankers Hill lanes accounting for about one-third of the cost, said Linda Marabian, deputy director of the city’s transportation engineering operations division.

The seven-block stretch in Bankers Hill is the only portion of the bike loop to eliminate an auto lane, officials said. It is also the only portion that includes a wide striped buffer on both sides of the new bike lanes, creating what several cyclists called a roomy and safe route in between the parked and moving cars on the avenues.

Rene Tuller, who moved to Bankers Hill recently, said the new bike lanes make her want to hop back on two wheels.

“I want to get back to my old self — healthy, active and not chained to the (motor) vehicle,” Tuller said, before driving away in her SUV.